Smoots, Hacks, and Congratulations

Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust—who noted she’d traveled “just 1.9 miles, or in MIT units, 1,797 smoots” to attend Rafael Reif’s inauguration—congratulated MIT’s 17th president and spoke of the “zesty blend” of collaboration and rivalry between the two schools. She also recalled several good-natured hacks carried out by MIT students. “Now, despite silently suffering torment and humiliation these many years as the victim of MIT’s creative hackers, John Harvard has dressed himself for today’s occasion,” Faust said, unveiling a photograph of Harvard Yard’s iconic statue bedecked in MIT garb. “President Reif, on behalf of the ‘red brick school up the street,’ I pre­sent a symbol of our lasting friendship.”

After a decade as an MIT student, Julie Shah ’04, SM ’06, PhD ’11, was invited to join the faculty. Her first year as a professor meant not only teaching but also setting up a new lab, wooing brilliant students, and overseeing research advances she never could have predicted.